Friday, May 6, 2016

Benjamin Radford -- Crop Circles Explained

According
to some estimates, crop circles appear every week somewhere around the
world. The strange circles and patterns appear mysteriously overnight in
farmers' fields, provoking puzzlement, delight, and intrigue for both
locals and the news media. The circles are mostly found in the United
Kingdom, but have spread to dozens of countries around the world in past
decades. But who — or what — is making them?

This massive 780-foot (238 meters) crop circle appeared in 2001 in the remote
area of Milk Hill in Wiltshire, England. The elaborate design is composed of
409 circles that form a pattern called a double, or six-sided, triskelion,
which is a motif consisting of three interlocking spirals.

Credit: Handy Marks public domain

Early claims of crop circles

Many people believe that crop circles have been
reported for centuries, a claim repeated in many books and websites devoted to
the mystery. Their primary piece of evidence is a woodcut from 1678 that
appears to show a field of oat stalks laid out in a circle. Some take this to
be a first-hand eyewitness account of a crop circle, but a little historical
investigation shows otherwise.

A woodcut pamphlet that some claim represents
an early crop circle.

The woodcut was actually used to illustrate
what in folklore is called a "mowing devil" legend, in which an
English farmer told a worker with whom he was feuding that he "would
rather pay the Devil himself" to cut his oat field than pay the fee
demanded. The source of the harvesting is not unknown or mysterious — it is
indeed Satan himself, who can be seen in the woodcut holding a scythe. According
to the original text of the legend, the devil "cut them in round circles,
and plac't every straw with that exactness that it would have taken up above an
Age for any Man to perform what he did that one night." This image and
story cannot be related to crop circles because it states explicitly that the
crop was cut (i.e., harvested) rather than laid down, as occurs in crop
circles.

Some claim that the first crop circles (though
they were not called that at the time) appeared near the small town of Tully,
Australia. In 1966 a farmer said he saw a flying saucer rise up from a swampy
area and fly away; when he went to investigate he saw a roughly circular area
of debris and apparently flattened reeds and grass, which he assumed had been
made by the alien spacecraft (but which police investigators said was likely
caused by a natural phenomena such as a dust devil or waterspout). Referred in
the press as "flying saucer nests," this story is more a UFO report than a crop circle report.

As in the 1678 mowing devil legend, the case
for it being linked to crop circles is especially weak when we consider that
the impression or formation was not made in a crop of any kind but instead in
ordinary grass. A round impression in a lawn or grassy area is not necessarily
mysterious (as anyone with a kiddie pool in the back yard knows). Indeed,
mysterious circles have appeared in grass throughout the world that are
sometimes attributed to fairies but instead caused by disease.

In fact the first real crop circles didn't
appear until the 1970s, when simple circles began appearing in the English
countryside. The number and complexity of the circles increased dramatically,
reaching a peak in the 1980s and 1990s when increasingly elaborate circles were
produced, including those illustrating complex mathematical equations such as
fractals. [Image
Album: Mysterious Crop Circles Gallery]

People inspect crop circles within a golden
wheat field in Switzerland. The photo was taken on July 29, 2007.

Credit: Jabberocky public domain

Theories & explanations

Unlike other mysterious phenomenon such as psychic powers, ghosts, or Bigfoot, there is no doubt that crop circles are
"real." The evidence that they exist is clear and overwhelming. The
real question is what creates them.

Crop circle enthusiasts have come up with many
theories about what creates the patterns, ranging from the plausible to the
absurd. One explanation in vogue in the early 1980s was that the mysterious
circle patterns were accidentally produced by the especially vigorous sexual
activity of horny hedgehogs. Some people have suggested that the circles are
somehow created by incredibly localized and precise wind patterns, or by
scientifically undetectable Earth energy fields and meridians called ley lines.

Many who favor an extraterrestrial explanation
claim that aliens physically make the patterns themselves from spaceships;
others suggest that they do it using invisible energy beams from space, saving
them the trip down here. Still others believe that it is human, not
extraterrestrial, thought and intelligence that is behind the patterns — not in
the form of hoaxers but some sort of global psychic power that manifests itself
in wheat and other crops.

While there are countless theories, the only
known, proven cause of crop circles is humans. Their origin remained a mystery
until September 1991, when two men confessed that they had created the patterns
for decades as a prank to make people think UFOs had landed (they had been
inspired by the 1966 Tully UFO report). They never claimed to have made all the
circles — many were copycat pranks done by others — but their hoax launched the
crop circle phenomena.

Another triskelion crop circle. The symbol can
be used to represent cycles, progress or competition.

Credit: Thomas J. Sutter, Jr. public domain

Most crop circle researchers admit that the
vast majority of crop circles are created by hoaxers. But, they claim, there's
a remaining tiny percentage that they can't explain. The real problem is that
(despite unproven claims by a few researchers that stalks found inside
"real" crop circles show unusual characteristics), there is no
reliable scientific way to distinguish "real" crop circles from
man-made ones. [Related: Crop-Circle Artists
Becoming High Tech]

Crop circle features

While there are exceptions, virtually all crop
circles share a set of common characteristics.

Circles. Crop circles, as the name
implies, almost always involve circles — rarely triangles, rectangles, or
squares, though some designs contain straight or curved lines. Perhaps
not coincidentally, a circle is the easiest pattern for hoaxers to create.

Nocturnal creation. Crop circles are
formed overnight, often sighted by farmers or passersby the next morning.
Though there seems no logical reason for extraterrestrials or earth energies to
only create patterns at night, it is obviously a great advantage for hoaxers to
create the designs under the cover of darkness; full moon nights are especially
popular.

Camera shyness. Crop circles have never
been recorded being made (except, of course, for those created by hoaxers).
This is a very suspicious trait; after all, if mysterious earthly forces are at
work, there's no reason to think that they wouldn't happen when cameras are
recording. The same thing is true with other explanations including alien
spacecraft; the only things ever caught on camera making the circles are
hoaxers.

This design of three flying birds was created
on Aug. 3, 2003, in the county of Wiltshire in southern England. The birds,
which resemble swallows, have ever-diminishing circles
trailing behind their wing tips.

Credit: public domain

No obvious human trace. Most crop circles
show little or no signs of human contact. While many people consider this very
mysterious, in fact it's quite logical: Hoaxers who devote the time and effort
required to design and create the (often complex) crop circles are unlikely to
carelessly leave obvious signs of their activities.

Access to roads.Crop circles usually
appear in fields that provide reasonably easy public access, close to roads and
highways. They rarely appear in remote, inaccessible areas. Because of this,
the patterns are usually noticed within a day or two of their creation by
passing motorists.

There are many theories about what creates crop
circles, from aliens to mysterious vortices to wind patterns, but they all lack
one important element: good evidence. Perhaps one day a mysterious, unknown
source will be discovered for crop circles, but until then perhaps they are
best thought of as collective public art.

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of
"Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books
including "Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained
Mysteries." His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com.